Spc. According to an August news release from the Army Criminal Investigation Command, Roman-Martinez was last seen alive on May 22, 2020, when he was camping with seven other soldiers.
A Fort Bragg soldier is facing charges after making a call in the case of another soldier who was found dead.
A Fort Bragg court docket shows that a soldier died. Alex Becerra is accused of conspiracy, disobeying a superior officer, failure to obey an order, two counts of making a false statement, and wrongful, use, possession or manufacturing of a controlled substance.
The date for Becerra's court appearance is January 20.
May 23, 2020, was the day that Becerra made a call to the police. The man is missing at Cape Lookout National Seashore.
According to an August news release from the Army Criminal Investigation Command, Roman-Martinez was last seen alive on May 22, 2020, when he was camping with seven other soldiers.
The severed head of Roman-Martinez washed up on the beach.
At the time of his death, Roman-Martinez was a human resource specialist with Headquarters Company, 37th brigade engineer battalion, 2nd brigade combat team and the 82nd Airborne Division.
A spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division said that the charges against Becerra are unrelated to the cause of Roman-Martinez's death.
The accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty, according to a spokesman for the division.
There is a call.
The comments that Becerra made to the Carteret County dispatch in 2020 have been questioned by Roman-Martinez's family. The group of people went to bed about midnight.
He said that the group searched for Roman-Martinez all day.
A park Ranger has said that they did not mention that Roman-Martinez was missing when they encountered the group earlier in the day.
He might hurt himself, and we might be afraid of that. We are not sure.
When asked if Roman-Martinez had any known medical or mental health conditions, he said he did have suicidal tendencies.
In May, Roman-Martinez's sister said that she was upset because her brother was not suicidal.
An autopsy report shows that Roman-Martinez had a crescent-shaped, incised vs. chop wound on his neck.
The soldiers camping with Roman-Martinez did not give an explanation for his death, according to the autopsy report.
The medical examiner couldn't say if decapitation was the cause of death or if he died another way because the lower half of his body wasn't recovered.
The examiner wrote that the findings were most consistent with death due to homicide.
There are concerns about the investigation.
The congressman from California questioned the investigation and said there was no justice for the soldier or his family.
What happened to a soldier? The DOD was asked to look at the case.
The inspector general was asked to review the investigation's timelines, including how long it took for investigators to arrive at the scene, how soldiers report colleague missing, and how the Army handles a person of interest during an investigation.
It took three days for an official search to be launched, and that the rain may have destroyed evidence.
She said that no one took it seriously until her brother's remains were found.
Divers were searching the water for evidence and the rest of the remains, nearly seven months after Roman-Martinez's head was found.
The family was told by investigators that there wasn't a reason for the other soldiers to harm their brother.
She wondered why the soldiers waited so long to report her brother missing.
She said that she still doesn't do that in the Army. Everyone watches out for each other and sticks together.
There is a cold case.
A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Division said in November that Roman-Martinez's case was moved to "cold case status."
Jeffrey Castro, a spokesman for the Army CID, said that special agents working on the case are personally invested in finding the truth about what happened to Roman-Martinez.
Castro said that the case will not be solved.
The partial remains of a man were found off the coast of Cape Lookout in May 2020.
The August news release states that a specialized task force comprised of CID agents, members of the FBI and the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit has executed more than 100 warrants and subpoenas, conducted more than 400 interviews and returned to the island seven times.
There were searches of cellphones and vehicles along with more than 130 items analyzed at the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory in Atlanta.
There was no trace of blood, DNA, or other forensic evidence found in the items.
The statement did not say if any evidence was found to support the suspicion of illegal drug use that agents investigated on May 22, 2020.
Castro said in November that if new information becomes available, the investigation can be reopened.
In an email Thursday, she said that the family's lawyer was told that no charges would be filed and that they were not told of any changes.
She said that she and her family were upset. Even if they're not homicides, we found out about the charges.
The Army CID has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to a resolution in the investigation, according to a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division.
Anyone with information about the death is asked to call the Army special agents at 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465.
They can submit information on their own.
The writer can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com.
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